Maintenance
by CK - Ace
Summary: Post RE6. Sherry was cleaning house, then Jake Muller shows up with a 'lemon' from Claire. And she was stuck with the rest of the day having Jake Muller in her garage. A Jake/Sherry oneshot fic.


**Disclaimers: I do not own anything out of Resident Evil. All of the contents belongs to Capcom.**

_Maintenance_

* * *

_'I didn't know you were such a bike aficionado, Jake. You seemed to know awful lot about a bike.' - Sherry Birkin_

* * *

"Urgh... Finally."

Sherry Birkin groaned as she stacked the last cardboard box of unwanted junks near the foyer of her house. Covered in sweat and grays in her plain white T-shirt and a simple pair of black pants, Sherry wiped the beads of salty moisture on her forehead as she eyed her living room with her sofas and the drawer and the table scattered around. It been her off-day from the office and since Claire was too busy to hang out these days, Sherry decided that she will have some normal time of her own to do some house-cleaning.

The diminished numbers of unwanted items (to which some that Sherry had no idea when how did it get into her house) made the house looked more spacious with plenty of space for her furniture. Except that there was still a few things that she should do: Mop the floor and rearrange the 'tornado-stricken' house.

She had done with her bedroom and her laundry room and that one spare room for Claire, these three rooms were the easiest since she lived alone and most of her time was at the DSO. After she had done with the living room, she will move on to the kitchen, then bathroom and...

The garage.

Just thinking about the stuffy, dusty, oily section of her house made Sherry felt ten times as tired. She paid the least attention to the garage, it where she had her blue car parked at.

She even considered skipping out. No. She need to get everything done all at once. If she left the dust accumulate there, there will be the time when Sherry will not dare to park her vehicle at the garage at all.

Sighing, Sherry carried the green pail filled with dirty of water and was ready to head for the bathroom to change it.

That. Until her doorbell rang.

"Who would it be on Sundays like these?" She said monotonously. Hopefully it was someone she knew because if it was a mail carrier or just some sales person, she would be utmost embarrassed in her grimy state. Hopping along the gaps between the boxes to avoid the mess she had made, Sherry pressed her eyes to the peephole of her door.

Buzz-cut, red-hair, at least six feet tall, Sherry nearly gasped when she saw the man she admired secretly to be standing on her front door. With her looking like a disaster.

Jake Muller had a scowl on his face, waiting for the door to be answered.

He had recently moved to the States after he quit his mercenary life since there's almost no major BOWs outbreak to hunt for since BSAA expanded, to her amazement that he decided to stay in one place. And he chose the States.

Sherry was now nervous. Will she allow herself to be looking like shit and greet him? If she were to run upstairs to change her clothes and wash her face, chances might be Jake will leave since she was taking too long.

No. That's not an option. Definitely not.

Pulling the door open, Jake's lips tugged into a smirk when he saw how... dirty she was.

"What the hell, Sherry? There's a Ustanak at your house?" He joked, his height easily overlooked Sherry's messy house inside.

Sherry frowned at Jake's cheesy comment and shrugged off, "I was just cleaning house since I have nothing to do. What are you doing here?"

Then Jake's frown returned, just like how when she saw him on the peephole. On his side he was balancing a cruiser motorcycle, an old red Harley-Davidson; which looked very familiar to Sherry. Wait, that was Claire's! That was the same bike Claire used to bring Sherry around the town when they were not in a mission, "Is this Claire's?" She pointed an accusing finger to the vehicle which made Jake's frown deepened.

"Yeah, it was Redfield's. She sold it to me since she said that she won't be riding a bike anymore but..." Jake twirled the handles around before scoffing, "She gave me a lemon!"

Sherry's mouth gaped, eyes widen and she just stared at him stupidly without saying anything. Does he even know what's a lemon? The acronym?

But Jake just fidgeted with his newly purchased bike innocently then noticing the stupid stare by the shorter woman in front of him and smirked, "Not THAT lemon, Supergirl. I am referring to the bike. Lemon in a bike's term means... hunk of junk."

"Oh. I know that." She lied, "So... what are you going to do about it?"

"Well, I am pretty far away from my apartment now, I can't stand to wheel this lemon any further so... I am just asking if I can borrow your garage for a few minutes just so I can fine-tune this shit? Heck, you should have seen when I start this bike, this is like an antique."

She wouldn't say no to that. To hell with it.

* * *

Sherry moved her car away from the garage just so she can make some working space for Jake's red Harley-Davidson. He wheeled the vehicle inside and he saw the toolbox sitting at the shelf, he asked permission to borrow that and she said yes.

"Sorry if my garage is too dirty, I was just about to clean it today. You take your time here, okay?" Sherry said as she dumped the toolbox that she rarely used next to Jake.

Jake shrugged, suspending his bike up and dug the tools out to remove the wheels, "No garage is too dirty, Supergirl. I'll just take a few minutes."

"I'll... just be inside to clean up the rest. Call me if you need anything, okay?"

"Sure."

Sherry jogged back inside her house, after all, she was still in a mess with her sweaty shirt. She closed the front door and left it unlocked, since Jake is in the garage, she's pretty sure that no one dare to invade her house. Then her mind fumbled around quickly. _'Focus, Birkin. You still have work to do. The living room, the bathroom, kitchen and the garage. Oh, wonder what Jake's doing there right now? Is he hot in there? Did he turn on the fan? But I like him sweating a lot- What am I thinking?'_

Sherry mentally slapped herself and groaned. The sight of the green pail of dirty water reminded her where she had left off and Sherry opted to restart from there, getting herself some clean water first.

Since she was in the bathroom anyway, the blonde quickly cleaned up the bathroom on the go. She cleaned the toilet and change her old shower head. The sink need a few scrubbing and so did the tiles. Wiping the water heater lazily, Sherry summarized her work in the bathroom and checked if her shampoo and her hair conditioner was enough.

All clear.

Dragging the bucketful of water to the kitchen, the agent scanned around the room and spot where needed attention: the counter, the stove, the fridge and the dishes. After ransacking the fridge and the cupboard and throwing out old stocks, Sherry was down to only washing the rest of the dishes when she glanced at the clock out in the living room, 2.08 P.M.

_'Wait, didn't Jake said that he only needed a few minutes? It's nearly an hour!'_

Maybe she should go take a look at him? She debated, then a brilliant idea came to her when she recalled the apple juice (which she had recently developed a taste for it) in her fridge. Nice, maybe Jake was now dried out at that humid garage of hers anyway, and the weather was around ninety-five degrees outside. He will need the drink.

Rushing off with the rest of the cutlery as fast as she could, Sherry washed her face and wiped her hands quickly and took the carton out, filled it in a glass.

She traced her step back to the garage and heard the sound of metal and steel colliding together, maybe Jake was hammering something.

When she got up close, she was so stunned that she nearly dropped her glass filled with the juice.

Jake was still frowning when he was on his knees, screwing a bolt under the jungles of wires and steels. His shirt was soaked thoroughly with his man sweat and his face was a little dirty from the oil and tar.

By the gods, her hormones inflated like a teenager again. Now she understood why she secretly admire this man from the start even though she barely knew him.

The white shirt sticking onto his well-defined body and she could see his six-pack that she only had a glimpse back in China. Beside him was a bunch of tools that she had no idea what to do with them and the spare parts that looked as complicated as the devices in a computer.

"Sorry, Supergirl, it looks like this is gonna take me a while. Shit, a few minutes won't cut it, she need more fine-tuning than I thought." Apparently, Jake had been aware of her presence without looking at her, "Claire did a great job taking care of the bike, but her maintenance was an eff. The rims were rusted as hell, the engine was a mess, heck, I don't dare to check the exhaust yet." It was a sarcastic joke, a statement.

Dammit, and she wished that she could admire him longer.

"Nah, take all the time you want." Sherry laughed, "I didn't know you were such a bike aficionado, Jake. You seemed to know awful lot about a bike."

Jake removed the screw from somewhere on the machine that only makes sense to him and he chuckled, "You did saw how I manhandled one in China do ya'?"

"I thought you are a genius in everything." Sherry grumbled silently, "Oh right, I brought you some apple juice."

The word 'apple' thrilled Jake when he quickly came up to a stand and Sherry passed the glass to the man who look like a child being offered an ice-cream. He gulped down the beverage quickly, letting out a nice exhale and of air. All Sherry saw was the remaining apple juice sticking on Jake's lips and she wished to lick them off for him, but Jake did it himself.

She wished that it was her he was licking.

_'Why am I being so silly today? Must be the heat.'_

"Jeez, Jake, why are you such an apple freak?" Sherry inquired humorously, trying to fight off the silly (dirty) thoughts her mind autonomously making.

The male shrugged, shoveling the tool box for a wrench and resumed his work with the mess of machine, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." He quoted, "I guess there's truth in that... I've never seen a doctor in my entire life, minus the 6 months in China." He chided, earning a huff from Sherry.

"Yeah, maybe I am having too little apples in my life, I've seen too many doctors. I'll just go back inside and finish up, I'll see you later."

She heard him hum his reply and she quickly jogged back inside the messy living room.

Sherry smirked, well, at least she survived the encounter without pouncing onto him. That's a mark.

Hastily, she finished the remainder of her work: mopping the floor carelessly, and rearrange the furniture to their usual places (although Sherry planned to add some decor in her house by changing the position of her furniture).

Her goal was to work faster than Jake did before he took his leave.

Soon after rolling the carpet to the floor, Sherry heaved her leather couch to its original position and quickly refilled the bucket with clean water and she dumped an old rag into it.

Now, she can work with Jake in the garage.

Once again she opened the front door and she saw that he front yard was loaded with... college girls. Her white picket fence was on the verge of snapping into two when they leaned against it, their eyes trained particularly onto the direction of her garage. Heck, they were so focused that they barely noticed Sherry's coming out from the house.

Of course, Jake Muller.

Sherry's head was literally fuming when she heard whispers for how they wanted to get laid by this particular man, how sexy his scar was, and how hot his his abs were... seriously, did young girls got this hormonal normally? Sherry remember that when she had reached puberty, she never had this kind of problem.

Never.

Quickly, she paced to the garage and she was flabbergasted again by the close sight of him: he had taken off his white T-shirt, the article of clothing hung loosely on his broad shoulder. His biceps flexed whenever he screw in something. Now wonder the girls were all ogling at him, it's all Jake's fault.

Angrily, Sherry shut the garage door which Jake immediately switched his attention to her.

Before he could say anything, it was Sherry who spoke first, "Did you did that on purpose?" She accused.

"Did what?" Jake arched a confused brow back to her. The gesture was honest.

Sherry sighed, "...You were attracting a horde to my yard, Jake. When you... yeah, took of your shirt." She soften on her last word embarrassingly.

Jake took his soaked white T-shirt and flail it to the stale air of the garage, "Sorry, Supergirl, it just got too hot in here so, I might need a little breather. Now that you had close the door, maybe I need to take my pants off too." He laughed at the flustering Sherry Birkin. Smacking his sweaty forearm, the agent dragged the bucket of water away from him to the shelf full with tools.

"We are not gonna open the door for now, in case if the stalkers are still there. And I need to clean the door anyways." She bend her body to pick up the rag, prompting Jake to turn away and back to his bike, "Yup, maybe they are thinking that we are having a quickie in here. That'll shoo them away." Jake joked menacingly.

_'Damn you, Jake. Damn you and your cheesy crude jokes.'_

Uttering a short 'shut up', Sherry turned to her back and began dragging the boxes out from the shelf. God, the dust residing in there was nasty. That had to be cleaned.

But it was difficult, not the scrubbing part but it was the fact that she was stuck in a humid, oily, hot small room with nothing but an old Harley-Davidson and... Jake Muller. The choking ambiance was killing her, she could smell the fuel of the bike, the smog coming out from the bike's exhaust, and spicy Jake Muller.

Her mind wasn't cooperating either; it kept conjuring the 'things' to feed her curiosity; things that she wished that it would happen and at the same, will not happen.

Like Jake suddenly push her up against the shelf and...

"Oww!"

Her sharp wince made her drop whatever object that had hurt her. The blood trickled down to the card box and Sherry saw that she had accidentally cut herself while wiping a... saw. Why hadn't she noticed that she had picked such a dangerous object up? Lucky her that Claire or Leon didn't get her a chainsaw. And she was lucky it was only a minor scrape along her palm, but it was still stinging.

In the next instant, she felt a strong pressure behind her, Jake Muller with a furrowed expression claimed her hand as he inspected the wound, "The hell, Sherry? Are you okay?"

She made an inaudible sound and her G-virus slowly began to work, knitting the gap between the flesh and it healed right on Jake's hand - leaving only a blotch of warm blood. The man was not fazed by her superior powers, he had seen much worse back in China.

Yet, Jake refused to let go of her hand and scolded, "Damn, how did you get yourself- wait, you wipe a saw?" His eyes trailed to the bladed tool infused slightly with her blood.

The DSO agent only stared at at her own palms timidly and Jake release his hand from hers.

"Sorry, it's my fault." Jake said, which triggered Sherry as she looked up to him in a daze.

"Why would you say it's your fault?" She asked.

Jake chuckled her favorite laugh, "Because I was distracting you, isn't it?"

And his lips tugged into another vexing smirk, rubbing the back of his buzz-cut hair, unconsciously flexing much of his muscle for her to see. If anything, he looked like a model for a car or maybe a automobile garage.

She shoved his chest lightly, "Oh, shut up."

"Hmm." Picking up the dropped object from the floor, Jake put it on the shelf messily and ripped the old rag from Sherry's other hand, "I think I'm taking over your garage for today, I'll clean it for you. I'm done with her." He gestured to his bike behind him.

"It's a 'her' now?" Sherry smiled to him, submitting herself.

"I want to name her as Superbike. Since you are Supergirl." Jake flung the rag across his left shoulder where his dirty shirt had been.

That's a nice reference.

Sherry grabbed the piece of cloth back from Jake's shoulder with a coy smirk of hers, "I'm still staying here to help you."

"Fine by me. Although you will be a distraction too..." He trailed off.

So, there they were; cleaning off the entire garage. Until one point, Sherry opened the garage door again and was astounded to find that the same bunch of college girl on her front yard. But she wasn't very much fuming this time, instead, a strange sense of pride filled her because she knew, she was Jake's only object of interest. The occasional smirk he threw at her and the splash of water from his T-shirt (Jake used his shirt as the rag), Sherry hoped that the girls were watching.

They should be frowning in jealousy right about now.

The ex-mercenary must have finally noticed the 'horde' she was mentioning about - the ladies who were drooling over him.

So, the next moment when Sherry turned around to face him, Jake dramatically dragged her closer by the hips and let his hand rest there. The action made her blush and he inched his face closer to her so that he could whisper.

"You can thank me later if you go for a ride with me."

"Only if the ride involve SuperBike."

Although she really didn't mind another kind of 'ride', the other way round.

* * *

**A.N: I know what you guys were thinking when Jake said that Claire gave him a 'lemon'. In Fanfiction, we know what a lemon is. X3 But really, a lemon also means that 'an item (mostly automobile) that had not meet your standard upon purchase'. Even for a motorcycle, there are 'lemon' rules too. :)**

**This oneshot was inspire when I was replaying RE6 out of nowhere and I got to Chapter 4 again... Then it came out! XD**

**Anyways, RFF! :)**

**And yes, I'm still working on my current fic.**


End file.
